A teenage cheerleader died after her parents tried to treat her injuries with smoothies and vitamins and failed to seek timely medical attention.
Miranda Sipps, 12, was kept at home by her mother, Denise Balbaneda, 36, and stepfather, Gerald Gonzales, 40, despite being able to “only blink her eyes and move her hands a little for a period of four days,” said Atascosa County Sheriff David Soward on wednesday.
The Christine, Texas, girl was injured on August 8 and left on the floor of her home instead of being taken to a doctor.
Balbaneda and Gonzalez “tried a number of remedies,” including a vitamin smoothie, Soward said.
“Obviously that's difficult for someone who's unconscious,” the sheriff said, adding that she was “primarily unconscious.”
They also got oxygen for her.
On Monday evening, someone from the family called 911 and Belbaneda, who was in the car with her daughter, was told by the dispatchers to stop and call for an ambulance to take her to the hospital.
Miranda was “alive but unconscious” and was taken to Methodist Hospital Atascosa with life-threatening injuries, Soward said. Facebook.
She was pronounced dead in hospital that evening at around 10:00 p.m.
Investigation revealed that Belbaneda only called 911 when her daughter started having breathing problems.
“The parents did not seek medical help for the girl, despite the fact that she was mentally and physically disabled and unresponsive,” Soward said.
Both parents were arrested without incident at their home on Tuesday and are being held in the Atascosa County Jail on $200,000 bail.
They have been charged with injury to a child, causing grievous bodily harm by negligence, and could face additional charges.
Miranda was a student at Jourdanton Jr High School and would have turned 13 later this month. Jourdanton and Christine live about 150 miles southwest of Austin.
“She left us far too early and in an unexpected way, leaving behind a legacy of love, laughter and memories that we will cherish forever,” her family said in a statement. GoFundMe Page for her funeral expenses.
The nature of her injuries and how she sustained them were not immediately released. The sheriff said he was “not 100 percent certain” and that her final autopsy report had yet to be completed.
“They basically thought they could get her back on her feet, and we don't think they wanted to draw the attention that would come from the little girl getting hurt,” Soward said of the parents. “Which is kind of ironic, but that's what they were thinking.”
As of Friday afternoon, the GoFundMe page had raised more than $5,000.
Please contact our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, Check out our news page.
MORE : Mother who had sex with two 13-year-old boys in her son's room gets prison sentence
MORE : Lush looter who held Greggs treats during riot gets lengthy sentence
MORE : My son was killed in a knife attack – I designed a special kit to save others
Get the latest news, feel-good stories, analysis and more you need to know
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and Google Privacy Policy And Terms of Service apply.